


Don’t You Know He’s Sick?

by sophia_m



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Batman/Joker, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Jason Todd is Red Hood, M/M, Past Joker/Harleen Quinzel, Past Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Protective Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 18:11:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15668541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophia_m/pseuds/sophia_m
Summary: The Joker has disappeared after an escape from Arkham Asylum conducted by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Bruce is waiting for him to resurface, knowing it's just a matter of time before they cross paths again. However, once they do cross paths again, it's not under the circumstances that Bruce would ever have dreamed of or wished for.





	Don’t You Know He’s Sick?

Bruce is suspicious. It's been almost two weeks since Poison Ivy assisted Harley Quinn in breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum but there has been no sign of them since. Selina dropped by the Wayne Mansion five days after the escape but an hour of unanswered questions, Bruce gave up on the interrogation. Jason and Damian warned Bruce to remain extra vigilant until the Joker showed his face again; Red Hood even offered to assist with nightly patrols until then. As Halloween was only days away and there had been 12 people admitted to Gotham General in the last 48 hours due to an unknown nerve agent, Bruce ordered his team to catch Scarecrow while he watched out for the Joker.

He had already caught 4 small-time wannabe bank robbers, passing them to Barbara and Dick to bring in, and a young man attempting to rob a lady at knife-point. Bruce lets him go with a warning after witnessing the lady smash her bag into his face. He fleed, knife abandoned on the ground, courage gone. Returning to the rooftop he'd been before the attempted mugging, Bruce is surprised to find Jason waiting for Him. He's even more surprised to see a familiar blonde sitting by Jason's feet, wrists tied in front of her with rope.

"Found her robbing a pharmacy," Jason explains before Bruce can ask, "Don't tell me about the Joker, however."

"I wasn't robbing them, I was gonna pay. And I ain't telling you about where he is!" Harley glares at Jason as he uses her teeth to tug on the rope, managing to loosen them and wiggling free. "Now, I'll be getting back to him, cuz he needs me and the supplies and you'll be letting me."

Harley approaches the edge of the rooftop, frowning slightly as she looks over it. Laughing nervously, she looks back over at the two men and asks for a ride down. Bruce tells Jason to take off and look out for the Joker, warning him that he's not to kill him. Jason rolls his eyes but mutters an agreement to not murder him. Bruce helps Harley down from the rooftop, keeping a tight grip on her arm until they reach the Batmobile. As she climbs in, she grins widely at Bruce and remarks that she's missed riding in this. Bruce starts up the car, ignoring the ramblings of Harley in favour of the radio, tuned in to the police radio. Groaning, Harley leans forward and hits a button on the dashboard, switching it to some pop song station. Gritting his teeth, Bruce shuts the radio off. 

"Someone's in a bad mood," Harley sings as she slouches down in her seat. "Could we stop at another pharmacy because I really do need to buy stuff?"

"What stuff?" Bruce asks with a sigh, expecting some joke to be his answer.

Harley shrugs, "Just some bandages and isopropyl alcohol."

Bruce almost drives the Batmobile off the road and into a closed coffee shop. He asks Harley to repeat herself which she does with slight confusion before hurriedly saying that Ivy got injured while helping to free Joker and she can't exactly walk into a hospital. Bruce believes her about one part, the person who needs the supplies can't walk into a hospital but he doesn't think it's Ivy. He doesn't ask her any more questions for the rest of the drive. Bruce pulls up to a 24-hour pharmacy and telling Harley to wait and not touch anything, enters the store. The person behind the counter lets out a small squeak when she sees Batman enter, cape sweeping behind him. Bruce stalks up and down the aisles, searching for a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and the gauze bandages Harley requested. On his way back to the front of the store, he decides to grab some extra supplies; gloves and wipes as well as tape and some elastic bandages. As he approaches the counter to pay, the employee shakes her head and tells him it's on the house. Anything for a crimefighter. He nods his thanks and returns to the Batmobile.

Harley's face lits up when she sees the items in Bruce's arms. She thanks him with a warm smile before saying he can drop her off at the port. Bruce quirks an eyebrow at her and despite not being able to see it, Harley senses it and remarks that he's not going to take in after he just brought her first aid supplies. He admits she has a point before starting the car up again. harley hums to herself for the rest of the ride, only speaking again when they arrive at the port to thank 'Batsy' for the ride. Bruce watches as she disappears into the shadow and momentarily considered getting out and following her but figure that she'll expect that and be ready to jump him so he heads back downtown. 

Th remainder of the night passes in mostly peace. A few more muggers that Dick and Tim deal with and a group of teenage boys creating some bizarre smelling concoction that no one wouldn't be surprised if something from Scarecrow was going to be mixed in. Tim starts by trying to convince to go home and make better life choices but Jason seals the deal by threatening to make each of the boys drink an entire batch. They hand over the drug and hightail it out of the area. There was no sign of Scarecrow himself however and no gas attacks throughout the night. They arrive back at the manor just after four without Barbara who Bruce sent home after she was almost hit by a drunk driver and ended up spraining her ankle. The boys, minus Jason, all head upstairs, leaving pieces of their suits over the stairs.

Jason joins Bruce in the kitchen, accepting a cup of coffee from Alfred before questioning why he's still awake. Alfred calmly replies that he was asleep but heard them arriving so he got up to make Bruce some coffee and food. Jason snorts, remarking that a grown man should be able to make his own breakfast and coffee into his drink. Alfred smiles briefly at the young man as Bruce glares over at him, catching his snark but not his words. jason holds his hands up, muttering 'don't shoot' before sitting up on the counter. 

"I didn't see anyone who I'd associate with the Joker tonight," Jason replies when Bruce asks him what happened while he was with Harley. "What did you do with Harley?"

"She needed medical supplies so I got them for her, then took her to the port and let her go." Bruce shrugs as Alfred hands him a cup of coffee. "She said that Ivy got injured while they were busting the Joker out. I don't think she's up to anything through, on her own or with Ivy and the Joker."

"And you believe her?" Jason questions in disbelief. "We are talking about the same Harley Quinn, are we?"

Bruce looks at him with another pointed glare and says that he does believe her. Jason rolls his eyes, muttering a 'whatever' before setting his empty cup in the sink, filling it with hot water. Thanking Alfred for the coffee, Jason says that he's going to try to catch some sleep. Bruce agrees, telling him he's been working hard recently. As Jason trudges upstairs, his eyes already closing, he recalls that on the rooftop Harley only mentioned needing to get back to the Joker and didn't mention Ivy even once and that the supplies were for him. He considers going back down and telling Bruce about this but decides to wait until after he had some sleep so he doesn't seem like some sleep-derived conspiracy theorist.


End file.
